Sovereign dignity, nationalism and the health of a nation: a study of China's response in combat of epidemics

Abstract

This paper seeks to understand the role of nationalism in China's policy towards the combat of emerging infectious diseases. By locating nationalism as a factor which facilitates or impedes global governance and international collaboration, this paper explores how nationalism influences China's political decision-making. Given her historical experience, China has in its national psyche an impulse never to become ‘the sick man of the East’ again. Today, China's willingness to co-operate with international bodies emanates out of reputational concerns rather than technical-medical considerations. This was clearly manifested in her handling of two epidemics in recent years: the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and HIV/AIDS episodes. This paper concludes that China's nationalism plays an inhibiting role in China's attempts to further incorporate herself into the architecture of global health governance in the long run.